The phrase in the title of this post, “blissful hearings and seeings” is from the RL Kashyap’s work on the first Shanti mantra of Taittiriya Aranyaka (TA), which finds its place in the Vedic corpus in various places, including as Verse 1.89.8 of the Rig Veda. The verse was well-known during the Vedic times, as is now, in that it finds its place in the Taittiriya Aranyaka, Sama Veda, Vajasaneya Samhita, Aitreya Aranyaka, Prashna Upanaishad and the Mandukya Upanishad. This post provides a brief descriptive comment about the Mantra.
Verse
भद्रं कर्णेभिः शृणुयाम देवाः ।
भद्रं पश्येमाक्षभिर्यजत्राः ।
स्थिरैरङ्गैस्तुष्टुवांसस्तनूभिर्व्यशेम देवहितं यदायुः ॥
Transliteration
bhadraṃ karṇebhiḥ śṛṇuyāma devāḥ |
bhadraṃ paśyemākṣabhir yajatrāḥ |
sthirair aṅgais tuṣṭuvāṃsas tanūbhir vyaśema devahitaṃ yad āyuḥ ||
Word by Word Meaning
The padaccheda of the verse along with its word by word meaning as is available is given below. We'll revisit this later.
भद्रम् (bhadram): blissful
कर्णेभिः (karṇebhiḥ): with our ears
शृणुयाम (śṛṇuyāma): may we hear
देवाः (devāḥ): Oh Gods
पश्येम (paśyema): May we see
अक्षभिः (akṣabhiḥ): with our eyes
यजत्राः (yajatrāḥ): O worshipful ones; O worthy of sacrifice
स्थिरैः (sthiraiḥ): firm
अङ्गैः (aṅgaiḥ): limbs
तुष्टुवांसः (tuṣṭuvāṃsaḥ): praising you
तनूभिः (tanūbhiḥ): with bodies
व्यशेम (vyaśema): may we live out; may we pass through
देवहितम् (devahitam): God given; ordained by the gods;
यत् (yat): which
आयुः (āyuḥ): life span
Translation
RL Kashyap's commentary on TA translates it thus:
"O Gods, may we hear (only) what is blissful;
may we behold with our eyes what is blissful.
Praising you with bodies having firm limbs,
may we enjoy the God-given span of life."
Some Questions
The Mantra appears as a Shanti mantra in both Taittiriya Aranyaka and Aitariya Aranyaka. Why, of all mantras in the Rig Veda, has this mantra been placed as the Shanti mantra in TA? The broader project of the Vedas as not merely information source but as normative content is perhaps reflected in this Mantra and its placement in TA. It connects body, and its organs, mind, teachers, gods and the cosmos.
The mantra seems to prioritise hearing over seeing. The first stanza of the mantra is a prayer to the Gods that “may we hear (only) what is blissful”. The second stanza continues with the prayer that “may we behold with our eyes what is blissful”. This structuring may not have been accidental. The mantra does not state about what is seen first. The prioritisation to hearing seems to accord with the idea that the Veda is Shruti (what is heard).
There are various questions concerning RV 1.89.8 vis-à-vis TA that require answering. For instance:
- Why was this mantra chosen as the first Shanti Mantra of Tattiriya Aranyaka than another one?
- Why was this prioritised over the the second Shanti Mantra that actually appears a few verses earlier as RV 1.89.6?
More on this in another post.
Some References:
RL Kashyap, Taittiriya Aranyaka: Krishna Yajur Veda - Text in Devanagari Translation and Notes Vol. I (2016)
